UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Reifsteck, Christian
Dept./Program:
English
Year:
2007
Degree:
MA
Abstract:
"Dis(b)ordering the Body, Dis(re)membering the Land: Dismemberment, Remembering, Borders and Chaos of the Land/Body Construct in Four Middle English Romances" explores the paradigm of dispossession and inheritance established in the 13th century romances King Horn and Havelok the Dane and the adherence to that paradigm of the 14th century romances Floris and Blancheflour and Sir Orfeo. This paradigm begins with the positing of the king's body as analogous to the land he rules and the establishment of the king's heir as the romance's hero. The hero/heir, as next in line to the throne, is unjustly dispossessed when his father perishes at the romance's beginning.
The hero's resulting dismemberment from the land in the form of exile instigates a shift in the hero's identity, as his sense of self is tied to his homeland. While exiled, as depicted in Horn and Havelok, the hero/heir alters his clothing, name, or class, and conceals his true identity as heir. This shift in identity can be viewed as a disremembering of himself, as an inability to remember who he is and a disordering of his identity. If the hero is at once dismembered fiom the land and does not remember it, then he is dis(re)membered from the land: both separated from his land and his identity.
Not only is the hero's body in a state of chaos while dismembered from the land, but the land itself is also concurrently disordered, as the throne is usurped by an evil ruler who maintains tyrannous power. The land, in being disordered by the incorrect ruler, is overrun by corruption and the Other and unable to consolidate, or unable to unite itself. It is therefore as though the protective geographic border of the land itself does not exist, as though the land is fully permeable with no contiguous border. This theoretical lack of a border is depicted as a disordered state, and so the land is therefore in a state of dis(b)order: dis-border and disorder are synonymous.
In order for the paradigm's happy resolution of the son's return to the homeland, his avenging of the father and reclaiming proper rule, the hero must re-identify with the land by remembering himself or being remembered, so that he cannot re-member himself to the land untii he remembers it and his identification with it. Became both he and the land are in a state of disorder while he is separated from the land's border, the hero and the land are both at once dis(b)ordered and dis(re)membered.
The pattern of separation and return and its accompanying inheritance ideals displayed in Horn and Havelok are reinforced in the romances Floris and Blancheflour and Sir Orfeo. Though Floris and Orfeo diverge from Horn and Havelok in many ways, they ultimately display the dis(re)member/dis(b)order inheritance paradigm and perpetuate inheritance ideals.
The hero's resulting dismemberment from the land in the form of exile instigates a shift in the hero's identity, as his sense of self is tied to his homeland. While exiled, as depicted in Horn and Havelok, the hero/heir alters his clothing, name, or class, and conceals his true identity as heir. This shift in identity can be viewed as a disremembering of himself, as an inability to remember who he is and a disordering of his identity. If the hero is at once dismembered fiom the land and does not remember it, then he is dis(re)membered from the land: both separated from his land and his identity.
Not only is the hero's body in a state of chaos while dismembered from the land, but the land itself is also concurrently disordered, as the throne is usurped by an evil ruler who maintains tyrannous power. The land, in being disordered by the incorrect ruler, is overrun by corruption and the Other and unable to consolidate, or unable to unite itself. It is therefore as though the protective geographic border of the land itself does not exist, as though the land is fully permeable with no contiguous border. This theoretical lack of a border is depicted as a disordered state, and so the land is therefore in a state of dis(b)order: dis-border and disorder are synonymous.
In order for the paradigm's happy resolution of the son's return to the homeland, his avenging of the father and reclaiming proper rule, the hero must re-identify with the land by remembering himself or being remembered, so that he cannot re-member himself to the land untii he remembers it and his identification with it. Became both he and the land are in a state of disorder while he is separated from the land's border, the hero and the land are both at once dis(b)ordered and dis(re)membered.
The pattern of separation and return and its accompanying inheritance ideals displayed in Horn and Havelok are reinforced in the romances Floris and Blancheflour and Sir Orfeo. Though Floris and Orfeo diverge from Horn and Havelok in many ways, they ultimately display the dis(re)member/dis(b)order inheritance paradigm and perpetuate inheritance ideals.